APR 2000 KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE 83 Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D. & Manning Rubin Illustrations by David Suter 3 1150007903129 Workman Publishing Company, New York Copyright © 1999 by Lawrence C. Katz and Manning Rubin Illustrations copyright © David Suter Cover and book design: Elaine Tom All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced—mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying—without written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Alien 8c Son Limited. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Katz, Lawrence, 1956- Keep your brain alive: the neurobic exercise program/by Lawrence C. Katz and Manning Rubin. p. cm. ISBN 0-7611-1052-6 1. Cognition—Age factors. 2. Cognition—Problems, exercises, etc. 3. Memory—Age factors. 4. Cognition—Problems, exercises, etc. 5. Aging—Psychological aspects. I. Rubin, Manning. II. Tide. BF724.55.C63K38 1998 153—dc21 98-18888 CIP Workman books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for premiums and sales promotions as well as for fund-raising or educational use. Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specification. For details, contact the Special Sales Director at the address below. Workman Publishing Company, Inc. 708 Broadway New York, NY 10003-9555 Printed in the United States of America First printing May 1999 10 9 8 7 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS W e both thank Peter Workman for being our match- maker, and our editor, Ruth Sullivan, for her steadfast faith in the project and her relentless pursuit of clarity and simplicity in the writing and organization of the material. Larry Katz wishes to thank Doris larovici, his spouse, for her critical insights, advice, and editorial assistance, and Bonnie Kissell, for unflagging administrative support of this project. Manning Rubin thanks Jane Rubin, for bearing the brunt of his burying himself in the research, writing, and rewriting he has been obsessed with for two years, and for her level- headed observations that helped the book. And he thanks Larry for the voluminous work he has produced in keeping this book alive. CONTENTS Preface .ix CHAPTER I Neurobics: The New Science of Brain Exercise 1 CHAPTER II How the Brain Works .9 CHAPTER III How Neurobics Works 31 CHAPTER IV Starting and Ending the Day .41 CHAPTER V Commuting .53 CHAPTER VI At Work 7-7 CHAPTER VII At the Market .87 CHAPTER VIII At Mealtimes .99 CHAPTER IX At Leisure .117 PREFACE A s the population of over 76 million Baby Boomers ap- proaches middle age and beyond, the issue of preserving mental powers throughout greatly increased life spans has reached an almost fever pitch. There is a growing interest in—and optimism about—preserving and enhancing the brain's capabilities into senior years. With the help of power- ful new tools of molecular biology and brain imaging, neuro- scientists around the world have literally been looking into the mind as it thinks. Almost daily, they are discovering that many of the negative myths about the aging brain are, in- deed, only myths: "Older and wiser" is not just a hopeful cliche but can be the reality. In much the same way that you can maintain your physical well-being, you can take charge of your mental health and fitness. Although new and therefore not yet proved by a large body of tests, Neurobics is based on solid scientific ground; it is an exciting synthesis of substantial findings about the brain that provides a concrete strategy for keeping the brain fit and flexible as you grow older. KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE From Theory to Practice Jane reached into her pocketbook and fished inside for the keys to her apartment. Usually they were in the out- side flap pocket but not today. "Did I forget them?! No. here they are." She felt their shapes to figure out which one would open the top lock. It took her two tries until she heard the welcome click of the lock opening. Inside the door she reached to the left for the light switch but why bother? Her husband would do that later. Touching the wall lightly with her fingertips, she moved to the closet on the right, found it, and hung up her coat. She turned slowly and visualized in her mind the location of the table holding her telephone and an- swering machine. Carefully she headed in that direction, guided by the feel of the leather armchair and the scent of a vase of birth- day roses, anxious to avoid the sharp edge of the coffee table and hoping to have some messages from her family waiting. The table. The answering machine. She reached out and brushed her fingers across what she believed to be the play button. "What if I push the delete button?" she thought, and again checked to make sure she was right. Yesterday it was so easy. She could have PREFACE done all this simply by looking around. Today was different. She could see nothing. But Jane had not suddenly gone blind. At age 50, she was introducing a lifestyle strategy called Neurobics into her daily activities. Based on recent discoveries in brain science, Neu- robics is a new form of brain exercise designed to help keep the brain agile and healthy. By breaking her usual homecom- ing routine, Jane had placed her brains attentional circuits in high gear. With her eyes closed, she had to rely on her senses of touch, smell, hearing, and spatial memory to do something they rarely did—navigate through her apartment. And she was involving her emotional sense by feeling the stresses of not being able to see. All these actions created new and dif- ferent patterns of neuron activity in her brain—which is how Neurobics works. This book will explain the principles behind Neurobics and how the exercises enhance the overall health of your brain as you grow older. NEUROBICS: The New Science of Brain Exercise ( ~\ Tf "That was the name of that actor who was in all the early V V Woody Alien films? You know curly brown hair ?" The first time you forget the name of a person you should know, a movie title, or an important meeting, you're likely to exclaim—only half-jokingly—"I'm losing it! My brain is turning to Jell-O." Reinforced by messages and images in the mass media, you equate mild forgetfulness with the first stages of accelerating mental decline. ". He was just in a Broadway show with, um, what's-her-name. Oh, God, you know who I mean." And maybe they do remember it's Tony Roberts. But if they don't, you become frustrated and preoccupied trying to recall this buried name. Usually beginning in your forties or fifties— sometimes even in your thirties—you start to notice these small lapses: not remembering where you put the car keys or KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE what was on the grocery list you left at home .or being unable to understand the instructions for a new VCR or com- puter. . .or forgetting where the car is parked because you left the mall through a different door. Even though these small lapses don't actually interfere much with daily life, the anxiety they provoke can. You worry that you'll become just like your Aunt Harriet, who can re- member details of events from the Depression but not what she did yesterday. Firsthand experiences with people who have dif- ficulty with perception and memory as they age can make you anxious when you suddenly forget something ordinary. No wonder you jump to the conclusion that aging is an inevitable slide into forgetfulness, confusion, or even the first stages of Alzheimer's disease. The good news, however, is that mild forgetfulness is not a disease like Alzheimer's and action can be taken to combat it. Recent brain research points to new approaches that can be incorporated into everyday activities to develop and main- tain brain connections. By adopting these strategies, you may actually enhance your brain's ability to deal with declines in mental agility. There are numerous myths about the aging brain that neuroscientists are disproving daily. With the help of exciting NEUROBICS new technologies, the traditional view of the way the brain ages is being rapidly revised. Evidence clearly shows that the brain doesn't have to go into a steep decline as we get older. In fact, in 1998, a team of American and Swedish scientists demonstrated for the first time that new brain cells are gener- ated in adult humans. 1 Also contrary to popular belief, the mental decline most people experience is not due to the steady death of nerve cells. 2 Instead, it usually results from the thinning out of the number and complexity of dendrites, the branches on nerve cells that di- rectly receive and process information from other nerve cells that forms the basis of memory. Den- drites receive information across connections called synapses. If connections aren't regularly switched on, the dendrites can atro- ^ ^ phy. This reduces the brains ability iLJ 'F need *° I** • r • • ^ry' '• I communicat- to put new information into memory ^> .' ;/~\y •_- to «»-„ as well as to retrieve old information. \ healthy. Growing dendrites was long thought to be possible only in the brains of children. But more recent work has shown that old neurons can grow dendrites to compensate for losses? Other experiments show that neural circuits in adult brains have the capacity to undergo dramatic changes—an KEEP YOUR RAIN ALIVE ability scientists thought was lost after childhood. The aging brain, however, continues to have a remarkable ability to grow, adapt, and change patterns of connections." Discoveries like these are the basis of a new theory of brain exercise. Just as cross training helps you maintain over- all physical fitness, Neurobics can help you take charge of your overall mental fitness. Neurobics aims to help you maintain a continuing level of mental fitness, strength, and flexibility as you age. The exercise program calls for presenting the brain with nonroutine or unexpected experiences using various combina- tions of your physical senses—vision, smell, touch, taste, and hearing—as well as your emotional "sense." It stimulates pat- terns of neural activity that create more connections between different brain areas and causes nerve cells to produce natural brain nutrients, called neurotrophins, that can dramatically in- crease the size and complexity of nerve cell dendrites. 5 Neu- rotrophins also make surrounding cells stronger and more resistant to the effects of aging. Neurobics is very different from other types of brain exer- cise, which usually involve logic puzzles, memory exercises, and solitary practice sessions that resemble tests. Instead, NEUROBICS Neurobic exercises use the five senses in novel ways to en- hance the brain's natural drive to form associations between different types of information. Associations (putting a name together with a face, or a smell with a food, for example) are the building blocks of memory and the basis of how we learn. Deliberately creating new associative patterns is a central part of the Neurobic program. Putting together the neuroscience findings (pages 6-7) with what scientists already know about our senses led di- rectly to our concept of using the associative power of the five senses to harness the brain's ability to create its own natural nutrients. In short, with Neurobics you can grow your own brain food—without drugs or diet. The word Neurobics is a deliberate allusion to physical exer- cise. Just as the ideal forms of physical exercise emphasize using many different muscle groups to enhance coordination and flexi- bility, the ideal brain exercises involve activating many different brain areas in novel ways to increase the range of mental motion. For example, an exercise like swimming makes the body more fit overall and capable of taking on any exercise. Similarly, KEEP YOUR RAIN ALIVE THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR NEUROBICS Neurobics rests on much more than a single breakthrough finding. It is a synthesis of important new information about the organization of the brain, how it acquires and maintains memories, and how certain brain activities pro- duce natural brain nutrients. These findings include: 1. The cerebral cortex, the seat of higher learning in the brain, consists of an unexpectedly large number of dif- ferent areas, each specialized to receive, interpret, and store information from the senses. What you experience through the senses doesn't all end up in one place in the brain. 2. Connecting the areas of the cerebral cortex are hundreds of different neural pathways, which can store memories in almost limitless combinations. Because the system is so complex and the number of possible combinations of brairt pathways so vast, we employ only a small fraction of the possible combinations. NEUROBICS 3. The brain is richly endowed with specific molecules lihe neurotrophins—which are produced and secreted by nerve cells to act as a kind of brain nutrient that actually promotes the health of these nerve cells as well as the health of their neighbors and the synapses tjetweea .tib«opu*. 4. The amount of neurotrophins produced by neiw c^Hs-^ and how well nerve cells respond to n made by other nerve cells—is regulated by howr those nerve cells are. In other words, the brain cells are, the. more growtii-sisteBuJating 'i^i^i^ they produce and die better they .respond/- 5. Specific kinds of sensory stimulation, especially lumwo"* tine experiences that produce novel activity pattsfn$ in nerve cell circuits, can produce greater quantities'•>* these growth-stimulating molecules. 8 KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE Neurobics makes the brain more agile and flexible overall so it can take on any mental challenge, whether it be memory, task performance, or creativity. That's because Neurobics uses an approach based on how the brain works, not simply on how to work the brain. HOW THE BRAIN WORKS T he brain receives, organizes, and distributes information to guide our actions and also stores important information for future use. The problems we associate with getting older— forgetfulness, not feeling "sharp," or having difficulty learning new things—involve the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. Somatosensory Cortex touch Visual Association Areas Visual Cortex vision Auditory Cortex hearing Motor Cortex muscle control and coordination Premotor Cortex muscle coordination Prefrontal Cortex social behavior, abstract reasoning, higher cognitive functions THE CORTEX the seat of higher brain function [...]... a balanced, comfortable, and enjoyable way to stimulate your brain As we have shown, Neurobics is a scientifically based program that helps you modify your behavior by introducing the unexpected to your brain and enlisting the aid of all your senses as you go through your day An active brain is a healthy brain, while inaction leads to reduced brain fitness Or, in simpler words—"Use it or lose it."... help you keep your brain alive, stronger, and in better shape as you grow older Many Neurobic exercises challenge the brain by reducing its reliance on sight and hearing and encouraging the less frequently used senses of smell, touch, and taste to play a more prominent role in everyday activities By doing so, rarely activated pathways in your brain' s associative network are stimulated, increasing your. .. controlling a pen is normally the responsibility of the cortex on the left side of your brain When you change to writing left-handed, the large network of connections, circuits, and brain areas involved in writing with your left hand, which are normally rarely used, are now activated on the right side of your brain Suddenly your brain is confronted with a new task that's engaging, challenging, and potentially... her brain that makes these few minutes of her day a Neurobic exercise X Listen to a specific piece of music while smelling a particular aroma 2 Engage your attention To stand out from the background of everyday events and make your brain go into alert mode, an activity has to be unusual, fun, surprising, engage your emotions, or have meaning for you Turn the pictures on your desktop upside down Take your. .. new brain circuits 41 40 K E E P YOUR R A I N A L I V E S T A R T I N G A N D E N D I N G T H E D A Y 1 WAKE UP AND SMELL THE VANILLA 2 SHOWER WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED 1 o change your usual morning olfactory association—waking to the smell of freshly brewed coffee—wake up to something different—vanilla, citrus, peppermint, or rosemary Keep an extract of your favorite aroma in an airtight container on your. .. a shirt, tying a shoe, or getting dressed For a real workout, try using just your nondominant hand Another exercise that associates unusual sensory and motor pathways in your cortex with a routine activity is to use your feet to put your socks and underwear in the laundry basket or pick out your shoes for the day of your brain are suddenly required to direct a set of behaviors in 44 T H E 45 K E E... is less than ideal for brain fitness ROUTINES CAN BE BRAIN- DEADENING K E E P Y O U R R A I N A L I V E they are carried out using a minimum of brain energy—and provide little brain exercise The power of the cortex to form new associations is vastly underutilized If you drive or walk to work via the same route every day, you use the same brain pathways The neural links between brain areas required to... or the hippocampus So keeping mentally fit really means exercising these parts of our brain so they function at their best And what they do best is to form associations between different kinds of information they receive 13 12 W O R K S A L I V E KEEP YOUR B R A I N ALIVE ASSOCIATIONS: How WE LEARN Associations are representations of events, people, and places that form when the brain decides to link... K E E P YOUR B R A I N A L I V E 1 Involve one or more of your senses in a novel context By blunting the sense you normally use, force yourself to rely on other senses to do an ordinary task For instance: Get dressed for work with your eyes closed Eat a meal with your family in silence Or combine two or more senses in unexpected ways: "''/• HOW N E U R O B I C S W O R K S WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BRAIN WITH... rethinking, your commuting time can be changed from a passive, mindless activity to one that strengthens the brain Here are some ideas on how to transform your daily trip into a Neurobic workout 54 C O M M U T I N G 1 THE SIGHTLESS START If you drive to work, enter and get ready to start the car with your eyes closed Using only your sense of touch and spatial memory, find the correct key on your key chain, . synthesis of substantial findings about the brain that provides a concrete strategy for keeping the brain fit and flexible as you grow older. KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE From Theory to Practice Jane reached. Usually beginning in your forties or fifties— sometimes even in your thirties—you start to notice these small lapses: not remembering where you put the car keys or KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE what was. reasoning, higher cognitive functions THE CORTEX the seat of higher brain function KEEP YOUR BRAIN ALIVE THE LIMBIC SYSTEM brain areas involved in processing emotions Cerebral Cortex involved